Sex up your hair with the style of your choice. Hairstylist Asha Hariharan of Mumbai’s ‘Beyond The Fringe’ salon tells you how.
Want hair like Jennifer Anniston’s? Or is Halle Berry’s style better? This hair confusion is just another thing about being a woman. Whether your hair is long or short, curly or straight, you always wish it were different.
There’s loads you can do to satisfy hair woes. The delight’s in the details. Check them out.
Sandhya, model and TV actress
This is one messy style you see on just about every head — from Halle Berry’s to Meg Ryan’s. Sport this short crop, but make it chic and spunky.
Here’s how:
The hair ends are razored. However, if your hair is too long or not layered, this type of texturising may pose a challenge.
Step 1: Wash your hair with a moisturising shampoo and use a deep conditioning agent.
Step 2: Next, towel-dry your hair to remove excess moisture, and apply a hair cocktail made of equal parts styling gel and straightening balm. Work this mixture through your hair, from the roots to the ends. This helps fight the frizzies and provides long lasting hold.
Step 3: Blow-dry your hair in sections from the bottom up. If your hair’s a little longer than Sandhya’s, use hair clips to section off the layers as you dry. Take a five cm-round boar bristle brush, and begin drying the back sections first, rolling the hair up and out with the brush. Repeat for the rest of the head, saving the crown and front section for the last. When finished, your hair should look big and full, flipping up and sticking out in all directions.
Step 4: Use a cream pomade to create a texturised look. Working with a small amount at a time, grab sections of hair and use the pomade to section and bend the hair in whatever direction you want. Continue for the entire head.
Step 5: Apply a light coat of hair spray for extra hold. Finish the look with spray shine, making sure the shine you choose doesn’t have a high oil content (this could make your hair look greasy, not shiny).
Pratima, Model
Step 1: Shampoo hair and apply a lightweight conditioner to the ends, just so the style doesn’t flatten out.
Step 2: Towel-dry hair to remove excess moisture and dispense a golf-ball-size amount of styling mousse into your hands. Emulsify the product by rubbing the palms of your hands together. Work the mousse evenly through your hair from the roots to the ends.
Step 3: Use your hands and a blow-dryer (no brush!) to begin styling your hair. Set your dryer on low speed and high heat and gently dry the hair by working your fingers through it. Allow hair to follow its own natural wave. Pay attention to where the hair naturally flips out or curls under. Once the hair is partially dry, use your hands to bend and curve sections as desired, using your fingers like a curling iron.
Step 4: Once hair is completely dry, lightly spray a volumising tonic on the ends only. Use a small, flat iron to re-emphasise the ends you want to give a little extra flip or curl to. Run the flat iron straight down the hair, either curling up or under, at the ends.
Step 5: As a finishing touch, use styling wax on the key points of this style. Rub a little wax between your fingers and apply to the ends of the hair only to reinforce the shape you’ve just created. The key is to keep this style looking loose, with stay-in-place roots and more life at the ends.
Tress Quickie
Work mousse into wet hair and blow-dry straight. Take a fat-barrelled curling iron and curl separate sections of hair. Take each section that has been curled and pin it up with bobby pins. Spray generously with hair spray. Let it set for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove pins and shake out. Tease front for height. Do not comb through. For an especially full look, don’t use a brush.
A tip: Hair doesn’t always have to be clean. Sometimes, if it’s styled the day after washing, it holds its shape better.
PHOTOGRAPHS: ADIL JAIN MAKE-UP & HAIR: ASHA HARIHARAN AND BEYOND THE FRINGE TEAM